Supernatural – Brad Majors, black magic, and douchebaggery

(Season 4, Episode 12 – “Criss Angel is a Douche Bag”)

Let me just kick this review off by saying: Best. Episode. Title. Ever. But title aside, I knew we were in for a treat when I found out Barry Bostwick was guest starring in this week’s Supernatural as a washed up magician who suddenly finds himself able to pull off stunts “even Houdini wouldn’t attempt.”

This was another great standalone episode, and while I have been missing Castiel and Uriel, this episode didn’t disappoint. It was chock-full of Supernatural goodness, with lots of laugh out loud moments, and we even got a little hint of things to come with Ruby paying Sam a visit.

If “Family Remains” disappointed in terms of not having an engaging story for the supporting cast, this episode more than made up for it. How could we not love The Incredible Jay? He’s a sweet man, and Vance the heckling magician was pissing me off so much in the opening scene I just knew he was going to be the first casualty.

Since Jay put the blame for his failure on himself and not the douchebags who have perverted the magic industry, I found it hard to believe he was the one responsible for the deaths of the other magicians. I was right, because as it turned out, Jay himself didn’t even know how he was suddenly able to pull off the tricks he did.

I was caught totally off-guard when Charlie was revealed as the person behind the real magic, though. Well, played, Supernatural, well played. When Vernon went to talk to Jay on the stage so that Sam and Dean could snoop in his room, I was expecting them to find the tarot cards. Instead, back on the stage, Jay and Vernon were joined by a very young, not-dead Charlie, and Sam and Dean found an antique poster of “The Great Dessertini,” with the same strange scar that had been bugging me from it’s place on Charlie’s forehead.

Once again we found the brothers Winchester in unfamiliar territory as they were pretty much helpless against Charlie’s magic, and poor Jay had to use his slight of hand talents to kill his friend and save Sam and Dean. Between last week’s feral children and this week’s immortal magician, it seems the boys should stick to what they know best, which is demons. Speaking of which….

Ruby’s visit to Sam in the hotel room seemed mostly to serve as an assurance that we’ll soon be getting back to the impending Armageddon, because their conversation was a little vague. While Sam and Dean have been hunting for the last couple of months, the number of seals broken has upped to 34, more than half of what’s  needed to unleash hell on earth. Ruby chastising Sam for his lack of action and his seeming disinterest are bewildering to me, because I thought that in “Heaven and Hell” we had made at least some progress with Dean accepting Ruby. Now it seems everything has backtracked a little bit, no?

I really wish Sam could quit lying to Dean, and I have a feeling their inability to come to terms over Sam’s power and whether or not to use it is part of the reason why they’ve been slacking off in that department. We’ve been wondering for a while if they’re building up to some kind of confrontation or falling-out over this, and I’m kind of hoping that they get it out of the way sooner rather than later. They’re at their best when they’re together, and seeing them do their own separate thing would be like watching two different shows.

Some of the fun stuff:

• Charlie and Vernon saying in unison “What a douchebag!” as they watched Jeb Dexter in rehearsal, and then Dean saying the same thing as they walked up to his performance later in the street.
• “He’s famous… kind of.”  “For what — douchebaggery?”
• Dean ribbing Sam for his pre-teen aspirations of being a magician.
• The look on Dean’s face when the Chief asked him what his safe word was. Classic!
• The Great Dessertini sounds like something you would get at Applebee’s, doesn’t it?
• Jay giving them the slip while they were discussing what to do with him. Yes, you should’ve seen that one coming.
• Michael Weston as the young Charlie! Now I’m just sad his character on House got dropped.
• “I ain’t Gutenbergin’ this here cocoon.”

Next week, we get to peek inside Sam and Dean’s past as a hunt brings them to their old high school!

Clacked by Cate Cropp
on Jan 23, 2009 @ 09:00 EST5EDT